Eternal Love Read Free

to eat, she heard
him talking on the phone.  Mumbled words shuffled down the hallway, becoming
garbled nonsense by the time they reached her ears.  She nibbled on the corners
of her toast, licking jam from her lips, and waited.
    He walked into
the kitchen then sat in the chair next to her.  "We're going on
vacation," he said.
    "Is that
what you were worried about?" she asked.  "Where do you want to go? 
We can visit your mother.  It's nice there."
    "No,
no."  He wiped a smear of jam from the corner of her mouth.  "I
thought we could go on a real vacation, to an island.  There's one in the
Caribbean called Saint Kitts.  It's nice.  I've been doing research."
    "Can we
afford that?"  Robert had a job, a decent one at that, but she didn't.  He
insisted she didn't have to work, which suited her fine.  It wasn't that she
was lazy, but he seemed happiest when he could take care of her, and she liked
seeing him happy.
    "I talked
to my broker on the phone.  There's good rates for senescence in the market. 
He has buyers lined up, so I transferred a couple weeks.  It should be more
than enough to cover the vacation, spending money, and extra for new
clothes."
    She thought she
should tell him it was unnecessary, that they didn't need to vacation somewhere
exotic to be happy, but she knew it would crush him if she said that. 
Undermining his hard work and good intentions by chiding him hardly seemed
proper, especially if he was willing to go to such lengths to please her. 
"Thank you," she said.  "You deserve a vacation, too.  You've
been working hard."
    He let out a
sigh of relief.  "I've got today and tomorrow off.  Want to go shopping
for a tropical wardrobe?  Maybe a sexy bathing suit?"
    She laughed.  "That's
why you want to go, isn't it?  To see me in a bathing suit?  Maybe I'll get a
one piece to spite you, how about that?"
    "One piece
is fine."  He winked.  "I think they've got topless beaches."
    She rolled her
eyes.  "Pervert."
    ...
    Gaige pulled on
her arm, tugging her through the woods like a child wanting to show off an
exciting find.  She stumbled while trying to keep up with him and her shirt
kept catching on low tree branches and fallen leaves and mud mucked up her
shoes.  It was dark, but Gaige had a flashlight.  This helped her see in front
of him, but did nothing to illuminated the space around her.  She felt like a
vagabond walking through a train tunnel and seeing the headlights of an
oncoming train thundering towards her from the opposite direction.
    A clearing
opened up ahead of them.  He showed her to a shack built in the middle,
isolated from the rest of the world.  He came here with friends, he said.  No
one knew who built the place, but it was abandoned when they found it so they
claimed it.  It seemed men, no matter their age, were fond of secret hideouts.
    No one was here
now but them.  Dust and grime coated the windows.  Gaige fetched a lighter from
his pocket and lit a pair of kerosene lanterns, hanging them on hooks in the
walls.  Offering her a rickety chair beside a beaten down table, he helped her
sit.
    "We could
live here, baby," he said.  "We could farm out back and grow food. 
Build a barn for cows and chickens for eggs and milk and meat.  It's got
everything."
    Except
electricity, heat, a telephone, internet, or any of the other basic commodities
they were both used to.  She laughed.  "I don't think that's a good
idea."
    "We could
do it, though," he said.  "Wouldn't that be nice?"
    She thought
about it for his sake.  "It could be nice.  Nathan would have lots of
woods to explore when he's older.  I bet he'd like that."
    "Yeah. 
See?  It'd be great."
    That was
curious, she thought.  Gaige never cared for Nathan, brushed her son off and
wanted to leave as soon as he came to pick her up.  This annoyed her, or had
annoyed her until Gaige stopped calling as often.  The only reason she'd
answered his call and agreed to spend time with him tonight was